Tag: quote | Atom Feed

quote of note n=11: copyright

Mon 10 July 2023

Let’s take a second to remember that copyright is the reason ~every child doesn’t have access to ~every book ever written.

– holmesworcester at Hacker News

-30-

quote of note - history of WWW tools

Tue 07 March 2023

The thirty year history of the World Wide Web seems to be one of barely glomming together a relatively robust, relatively well maintained set of information sources and then destroying them at the first sign of a company offering a slicker product… which then spectacularly dies.

– Jason Scott @textfiles [twitter.com] June 28, 2022

-30-

quote: outsourcing risk

Wed 10 March 2021

However, this only works as long as the other party actually internalizes the risk and liability. Since there are no consequences for mishandling data, operating IT services you’re not structurally competent to operate, and eventually having your crown jewels stolen - the contractor doesn’t really internalize risk, has no incentive to mitigate it.

assumptions

Tue 12 January 2021

Coworker: the username was autofilling so I assumed it was correct. But you know what they say about assuming.

Me: That it is indistinguishable from making a mistake, only you didn’t realize you had even made a decision?

quote of the day n+1th

Wed 14 March 2018

I had the most satisfying Eureka experience of my career while attempting to teach flight instructors that praise is more effective than punishment for promoting skill-learning. When I had finished my enthusiastic speech, one of the most seasoned instructors in the audience raised his hand and made his own short speech, which began by conceding that positive reinforcement might be good for the birds, but went on to deny that it was optimal for flight cadets. He said, “On many occasions I have praised flight cadets for clean execution of some aerobatic maneuver, and in general when they try it again, they do worse. On the other hand, I have often screamed at cadets for bad execution, and in general they do better the next time. So please don’t tell us that reinforcement works and punishment does not, because the opposite is the case.” This was a joyous moment, in which I understood an important truth about the world: because we tend to reward others when they do well and punish them when they do badly, and because there is regression to the mean, it is part of the human condition that we are statistically punished for rewarding others and rewarded for punishing them. I immediately arranged a demonstration in which each participant tossed two coins at a target behind his back, without any feedback. We measured the distances from the target and could see that those who had done best the first time had mostly deteriorated on their second try, and vice versa. But I knew that this demonstration would not undo the effects of lifelong exposure to a perverse contingency.

quoting myself

Sat 20 May 2017

Non-fiction is an assertion of hope, not a statement of accuracy.

quote of the day

Thu 19 May 2016

When I was younger, I dreamed of something like this. Voice control for my home! A Star Trek computer that I can interact with conversationally! I just say what I want and it happens! Now, I just see an internet-connected microphone in a software black box which I can only interpret as a giant frickin’ security liability.

quote of note iii

Tue 09 February 2016

But every day the balance shifts: computers get faster, but developers don’t get smarter, so a language that sacrifices performance for ease of development becomes a better choice.

quote of note ii

Fri 05 February 2016

Most people, who own and drive automobiles, learn by their second car that life time operation cost can be higher than purchase cost, so their shopping around needs to find one with good gas mileage, good warranties, good service, few break downs, etc. Most people never learn that about computing.

quote of note

Wed 27 January 2016

1 The DOCUMENTATION is my guide; I shall not wonder. 2 It maketh me to understand the necessary concepts; It leadeth me through the installation process. 3 It reassureth me; It leadeth me on the happy path for my desired objectives. 4 Yea, though I work through the advanced configuration menus, I will fear no failures, for thou art with me Thy FAQ and thy troubleshooting they comfort me. 5 Thou providest examples to me in the context of mine use cases. Thou explainest my expected outcomes. My results are perfect. 6 Surely good performance and stability will persist throughout the system life And it will run within the parameters of the DOCUMENTATION forever.

© -dsr-. Send feedback or comments via email — by continuing to use this site you agree to certain terms and conditions.

Built using Pelican. Derived from the svbhack theme by Giulio Fidente on github.